ISTANBUL
Turkey ranked 22nd in the world in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow in 2014, attracting around $12 billion, has revealed a UN World Investment Report on Wednesday.
The country also ranked 12th in developing countries, and number one in West Asia countries (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Jordan etc.), according to the report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Speaking at a press conference in Istanbul, chairman of Istanbul-based International Investors Association of Turkey (YASED) Ahmet Erdem said that providing a sustainable and predictable investment climate in Turkey would carry the country to its future economic targets.
“We have to work with common sense and cooperation to increase foreign direct investment in Turkey,” he said.
Speaking at the same conference Astrit Sulstarova, trends and data section chief at the UNCTAD, said that Turkey remained the largest FDI recipient in the region.
“Inflow in Turkey basically remained at the same level, declining 2 percent,” he said.
Noting that foreign investors continue to invest in the country, Sulstarova said reinvestment had more than doubled in the country.
“[It] shows that foreign companies in Turkey rather than repatriating their profits invest back into the country,” he added.
Sulstarova also emphasized that “outflow in Turkey [had] jumped.”
“Turkish multinational companies are becoming quite important in investing abroad,” he said.
According to the report, outward FDI from Turkey jumped by 89 percent to $6,7 billion, driven mainly by equity outflows, which rose by 61 percent to $5 billion.
According to the report, global FDI inflows declined in 2014.
“Global FDI inflows fell by 16 percent to $1.23 trillion in 2014, mostly because of the fragility of the global economy, policy uncertainty for investors and elevated geopolitical risks,” the report said.
YASED is a non-profit private sector organization and its members have international companies operating in Turkey.
The World Investment Report, published annually since 1991, covers the latest trends in foreign direct investment around the world.
